A three-hour, Haskell-oriented, guided tour of the battlefield on Saturday morning was the highlight of the 2011 Haskell family reunion at Gettysburg on June 17-18. This was preceded by a Friday night banquet at the Gettysburg Hotel and followed by a Saturday night farewell dinner at the Inn at Herr Ridge.
Forty-eight Haskell family members arrived at the Gettysburg Hotel Friday afternoon to be greeted by Louisa Stone and Edie Haskell at the registration table outside the Stevens Room. Louisa had made personalized name tags for everyone with the entire line of descent from Roger1, William1, or Mark1—each brother having a unique color scheme. The front of the badge contained generations 1 and 2 at the top and the member’s name and parent name at the bottom. The back of the badge contained all of the intermediate generations.
Louisa provided apples for all participants together with a card containing the Legend of the Haskell Coat of Arms, which described the significance of the apples. A version of the legend can be found in a letter by W. Garrison Haskell published in the first issue of The Haskell Journal (Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. 1898, page 4) in which he states, “I do not distinctly remember from whom I received it, but I think from the now deceased Charles Haskell of Boston.” More recently, Trudy Haskell, in her article, “Haskell Whence the Name?” makes a convincing case for the name Haskell originating from Harold’s housecarls—”a closely-knit band of the king’s most trusted, intimate associates, as well as his military elite.” She noted that “according to the contemporary Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: ‘Harold and William fought at the grey apple tree,’ a reference that could explain the crest over the so-called Haskell coat of arms.” In any event, apples have been associated with Haskells for a very long time, and they were enjoyed by all!
As registrations were wrapping up, Carey Haskell, Richard Hascall, Sanford Haskill, Tom Haskell, Louisa Stone, Richard E. Haskell, and Edwin Haskell met in the large ballroom of the Gettysburg Hotel for a board meeting. This room used to be a bank, and the safe deposit box vault now contains a table where six persons can enjoy a unique dinner.
An enjoyable social hour with open bar started at 6:00 pm in the Stevens Room and was followed by a dinner of either chicken or steak. Dick Haskell had ordered the menu for this dinner back in November but had forgotten what he had ordered for dessert. Inasmuch as there was an extra fork at each place, everyone at his table tried to guess what the dessert would be. Dick said that he hoped it would not be cheesecake, because he had ordered that (on Carey’s recommendation!) a couple of weeks earlier to go with the Saturday night buffet at the Inn at Herr Ridge. As the trays of cheesecake started to be passed out, Dick thought fast to try to turn lemons into lemonade. He explained the situation to everyone, and told them that we were starting a new Haskell tradition. From now on, cheesecake was to be the official dessert of the Haskell Family Association. Based on the legend of the Haskell coat of arms, we should probably have had apple pie!
After dinner, Tom Haskell gave a very informative talk, with PowerPoint slides, entitled, Nine Brothers —Seven Served in the Civil War: Gettysburg and Other Stories. A pdf file containing all 39 of these slides is available by clicking here. The following seven brothers served in the Civil War: 1) Langdon Cheves Haskell served with General Maxcy Gregg and General A.P. Hill, 2) Charles Thomson Haskell was a Captain in the First Carolina Regulars, 3) William Thomson Haskell was a Captain of Infantry who served under A.P. Hill, 4) Alexander Cheves Haskell rose to the rank of Colonel of the Cavalry, 5) John Cheves Haskell was a Colonel of the Artillery Corps, 6) Joseph Cheves Haskell was a Captain & Asst. Adj. General in the Artillery, 7) Lewis Wardlaw Haskell was a private in the Cavalry. These seven brothers were the sons of Charles Thomson Haskell and his wife, Sophia Lovell Cheves Haskell. Their other children were the three daughters Mary Elizabeth – also known as Marie Elise Courtonne, Charlotte Thomson Haskell born after Charles Thomson – but lived only a few days, and Sophia Lovell Haskell who married Langdon Cheves. The two brothers who did not serve were Paul Thomson Haskell (too young to serve) and Hayne Cheves Haskell, who only lived two weeks and was buried by his sister, Charlotte (who also died young) in the cemetery at Rocky River Church in SC. Of the seven brothers who fought in the Civil War, four fought at Gettysburg: Langdon Cheves, William Thomson, John Cheves, and Joseph Cheves. Remarkably, they made up four of the six Haskells from the South who fought on the Confederate side at Gettysburg. Capt. William Thomson Haskell was killed on 2 July 1863 at Gettysburg. Tom showed photos of his battle sword.
Tom explained how his ancestor, Maj. Elnathan Haskell, moved to South Carolina following the Revolutionary War and married Charlotte Thomson, the daughter of South Carolina’s own war hero, William Thomson. Elnathan Haskell can be seen in a painting showing the surrender of British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga, which is in the rotunda at the nation’s capital. Tom also showed a photo of a letter by George Washington commending Maj. E. Haskell “as a faithful, brave and assiduous officer.”
We climbed aboard the bus at 8:45 am on Saturday for a delightful and informative three-hour tour of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery and battlefield. Our tour guide, Ed Guy, handed out a large sheet to everyone entitled HASKELL REUNION—Gettysburg 2011. He had drawn a large map of the battlefield in the center of the sheet and then on each side he had listed all of the Haskells who fought at Gettysburg together with their state regiment and company. You can see a photo of this sheet by clicking here.
Ed was a wealth of information and told a number of stories of Haskells who fought at Gettysburg including Capt. William Thomson Haskell on the confederate side and Lt. Frank Aretas Haskell, the Aide-de-Camp to Gen. Gibbon on the Union side. (See Issue 31, Vol. 8, No. 4, 1992 of the Haskell Journal for a long article on Lt. Frank Aretas Haskell.)
After some free time in the afternoon, we met at the Inn at Herr Ridge at 5:00 pm for a business meeting followed by a buffet dinner. Following dinner, a spirited raffle was held for several items, the choice one being the signed copy of The Civil War by Ken Burns. The inscription read: "In recognition and remembrance of all Haskells who fought on both sides in the Civil War—Gettysburg Reunion, June 17-18, 2011." When the first ticket was drawn - one of 255 purchased for $1 each - the winner was Jane Haskell. We are savored happy memories from our gathering in Gettysburg.
